rise of empire total war

Chapter 513
"It's a terrifying weapon."

Looking at the warship fragments floating on the sea and the corpses of dead sailors, Ansmara Navy Minister Ainsley Hurt on the "Poseidon" couldn't help but sigh with emotion.Out of consideration for An (pa) Quan (si), he did not recklessly take the lead in the charge on the flagship, but sent out more than a dozen warships to rush ahead to test the enemy's firepower.

Facts have proved that his prudence saved his life. After only a few rounds of shelling on the warships rushing ahead, the sailors on board had to abandon the ship due to severe damage to the hull. The vitality of those who fell into the water, and the rapid approach of those sea predators who smelled blood made those who fell into the water desperately wait for death to come.

"My lord, how should we deal with the weapons of the Romans?" An adjutant asked, trembling with fear in his tone, this was the first time he encountered such weapons after so many years in the army.

"Neither our crossbows nor trebuchets can cause damage to the enemy's warships, because they are just out of range." He swallowed, and added.

Hearing this, Ainsley's face darkened. Although he had already guessed in his heart, he was still surprised when the adjutant really said it.

After being surprised, he thought about it. The shelling of the Roman navy in the distance was still continuing, and the mid-air was full of the whistling sound of shells flying at high speed. He only thought for a few seconds. "Nils," he said, "order all the warships to disperse and attack the Roman navy in a loose formation."

"Yes, General." The adjutant named Nils promised, and just as he was about to turn around and leave, Ainsley stopped him again and said, "The whole army is advancing at full speed! As long as our speed is fast enough, we can Shorten the number of times you are attacked!"

"Yes." Nils ran away quickly. A few seconds later, the flag was waved on the deck of the flagship. Immediately afterwards, the ships began to move under the orders of their respective captains, and each warship moved as far away as possible. The surrounding warships are farther away, and while changing their positions, they are also accelerating the speed of the ships.

"Come on, you bloody pigs!"

"Fight! Speed ​​up! Speed ​​up!"

"Snapped--"

At the bottom of the cabin of the warship, those vicious overseers brandished whips and whipped the rowing slaves who were fixed in place by chains. , also gritted their teeth and rowed the oars vigorously, and the warship increased its speed in this way.

On the other side, seeing that the Ansmara Navy actually widened the distance between the warships, Sigurd's face changed slightly, but he didn't say anything, but continued to order the ships to fire, but this time, the battleships The shells fired are not solid shells, but a sharp weapon specially developed by the Gunpowder Research Institute for naval warfare after Richard's suggestion.

That is, chain bombs.

Chain bombs use a chain to connect two small cannonballs smaller than the caliber of the gun bore. After being fired, one cannonball will drag the other cannonball out centrifugally and fly out, so it will tear a big hole in the sail, or If you tear up the rigging, with luck, you can even tear off the mast and paralyze the enemy ship.This is mainly to limit the mobility of enemy warships, but it also has another purpose. The high-speed moving chain bomb can easily cut off any object, including enemy sailors. Therefore, the chain bomb can be combined with the navy's equipment. It kills and injures the personnel of the enemy ship like a shotgun, but the effect is not as good as the latter.

"Chain bomb ready!"

On a Hawker gunboat, the sailor operating the artillery took out two small cannonballs connected by chains from the ammunition box covered with straw, and then stuffed them into the barrel where gunpowder had been put. Then another sailor used a pass. The gunpowder and shells are compacted by the gunpowder, and when this is done, the cannon is pushed back into position, ready to fire.

"emission!"

Nourishes—

boom--

After the deafening sound of the cannon, the artillery was pushed back a few centimeters due to the recoil, and the chain bullet inside the barrel also flew out of the muzzle at the moment of the sound of the cannon, and flew out at high speed in mid-air, passing through hundreds of meters in a blink of an eye From a long distance, it roared and hit the sail of an Ansmara warship, tearing a huge hole in the sail.

Because the Ansmara Navy is loose, most of the artillery shells fired by the First Fleet hit the sea surface, and only a few hit the target successfully. , The hull will also be smashed into a huge gap, the slaves in the cabin suffered heavy casualties, and the warship immediately lost its forward momentum.

As a result, the chain bombs did not play much role. Most of the chain bombs mixed with the solid bullets were empty, and only a few could hit the sail of the Ansmara warship, but the First Fleet did not notice. Surprisingly, one of the chain bullets flew directly into the flagship deck of the Republic Navy, and cut off the dense combatants on the deck under the watchful eye of Minister Ainsley. Some parts of their bodies were directly scraped off, most of them had their upper body separated from their lower body, some unlucky ones were beheaded on the spot, and only some lucky ones had their hands or legs ripped off.After harvesting a large number of lives, the chain bullets smashed through the deck, flew into the cabin, and dismembered several soldiers who just ran past, then lost power and got stuck in the wooden layer.

After the chain bombs raged, the deck of the "Poseidon" turned into a hell on earth, almost covered with blood. The bodies of those who died on the spot lay quietly in a pool of blood, while those who did not die struggled in pain. Some of the sailors who were cut in half would not die immediately. Their tenacious vitality would support them in experiencing such tremendous pain, and they would slowly die due to excessive blood loss after more than ten minutes.They were howling in pain while struggling to crawl to their nearest unaffected comrades in an attempt to get help, but they didn't expect that they would look like life-seeking ghosts from hell. , directly frightened his comrades into unconsciousness.

……

"Order, the whole army counterattacks."

Seeing that his own bombardment was no longer of much use against the loose formation of the enemy fleet, Sigurd finally decided to change tactics.Following his order, the warships of the First Fleet in a long snake formation turned their bows at the fastest speed, and they all took the initiative to meet the incoming Ansmara Fleet. Bombarding enemy ships.The artillery fire on the sea shook the sky, and both sides rushed towards the enemy at the fastest speed.

The ship-borne ballistas and trebuchets of the Ansmara Navy finally brought the warships of the First Fleet into range!
(End of this chapter)